Breaking News English ESL Lesson Plan on John Lennon's Killer John Lennon’s Killer Says Why He Did It (17th September, 2010) The man who killed former Beatle John Lennon has told prison authorities why he did it. Mark David Chapman, 55, explained his reasons to his parole board on September 7th. It is the first time he has given any explanation for murdering Lennon on the steps of the rock legend’s apartment in New York on December 8th, 1980. He said: "I felt that by killing John Lennon I would become somebody, and instead of that I became a murderer and murderers are not somebodies.” He added: "I made a horrible decision to end another human being's life for reasons of selfishness, and that was my decision at that time.” Chapman thought that by killing someone famous he would achieve "instant notoriety and fame." Chapman is serving a sentence of 20 years to life for shooting Lennon. He was first eligible for parole in 2000 but prison officials decided not to release him. His next parole hearing will be in August 2012. He hopes that talking about his crime will help him get released.

He revealed that his deepening belief in God while in prison has made him a better person. He admitted that he understands why members of the public want to keep him locked up forever. Another new revelation is that Chapman had other famous people on his hit list, including actress Elizabeth Taylor and former U.S. president Ronald Reagan. He chose John Lennon because he was “more accessible”. He said: "I found out what building he was at and went there." WARM-UPS 1. JOHN LENNON: Walk around the class and talk to other students about John Lennon. Change partners often. Sit with your first partner(s) and share your findings. 2. CHAT: In pairs / groups, decide which of these topics or words from the article are most interesting and which are most boring. former / the Beatles / prison authorities / explanation / rock legend / notoriety / fame / parole / crime / belief in God / being a better person / locked up / hit list / accessible Have a chat about the topics you liked. Change topics and partners frequently. 3. BEING SOMEBODY: How could you do it? Complete this table with your partner(s). Change partners and share what you wrote. Change and share again.

Instant fame WHILE READING / LISTENING GAP FILL: Put the words into the gaps in the text. The man who killed former Beatle John Lennon has told prison ____________ why he did it. Mark David Chapman, 55, explained his reasons to his parole ____________ on September 7th. It is the first time he has given ____________ explanation for murdering Lennon on the steps of the ____________ legend’s apartment in New York on December 8th, 1980. He said: "I felt that by killing John Lennon I would become somebody, and ____________ of that I became a murderer and murderers are not somebodies.” He added: "I made a horrible ____________ to end another human being's life for reasons of selfishness, and that was my decision at that ____________.” Chapman thought that by killing someone famous he would achieve "____________ notoriety and fame." deepening LISTENING  Listen and fill in the gaps The man who killed former Beatle John Lennon ______________________ why he did it. Mark David Chapman, 55, explained his reasons to his parole board on September 7th.

It is the first time ______________________ for murdering Lennon on the steps of the rock legend’s apartment in New York on December 8th, 1980. He said: "I felt that by killing John Lennon ______________________, and instead of that I became a murderer and murderers are not somebodies.” He added: "______________________ to end another human being's life ______________________, and that was my decision at that time.” Chapman thought that by killing someone famous he would achieve "______________________." Chapman is serving a sentence of ______________________ shooting Lennon. He was ______________________ in 2000 but prison officials decided ______________________. His next parole hearing will be in August 2012. He hopes that talking about his crime will help him get released. He revealed that ________________________ while in prison has made him a better person. He admitted that he understands why members of the public want to keep ______________________. Another new revelation is that Chapman had other famous people on his hit list, including actress Elizabeth Taylor and former U.S. president Ronald Reagan. He chose John Lennon because he was “more accessible”. He said: "I found out ______________________ and went there." AFTER READING / LISTENING 1.

WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionary / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words ‘hit’ and ‘list’. hit Share your findings with your partners. Make questions using the words you found. Ask your partner / group your questions. 2. ARTICLE QUESTIONS: Look back at the article and write down some questions you would like to ask the class about the text. Share your questions with other classmates / groups. Ask your partner / group your questions. 3. GAP FILL: In pairs / groups, compare your answers to this exercise. Check your answers. Talk about the words from the activity. Were they new, interesting, worth learning…? 4. VOCABULARY: Circle any words you do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find their meanings. 5. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall how they were used in the text: former What questions would you like to ask Mark David Chapman? LANGUAGE  MULTIPLE CHOICE The man who killed (1) ____ Beatle John Lennon has told prison authorities why he did it.

Mark David Chapman, 55, explained his reasons (2) ____ his parole board on September 7th. It is the first time he has given any explanation for murdering Lennon on the steps of the rock legend’s apartment in New York on December 8th, 1980. He said: "I felt that (3) ____ killing John Lennon I would become (4) ____, and instead of that I became a murderer and murderers are not somebodies.” He added: "I made a horrible decision to end another human being's life for reasons of (5) ____, and that was my decision at that time.” Chapman thought that by killing someone famous he would achieve "instant notoriety and (6) ____." Chapman is (7) ____ a sentence of 20 years to life for shooting Lennon. He was first eligible for parole in 2000 but prison officials decided not to release him. His next parole (8) ____ will be in August 2012. He hopes that talking about his crime will help him get released. He revealed that his (9) ____ belief in God while in prison has made him a better person.

He admitted that he understands why members of the public want to keep him locked (10) ____ forever. Another new revelation is that Chapman had other famous people on his hit (11) ____, including actress Elizabeth Taylor and former U.S. president Ronald Reagan. He chose John Lennon because he was “more (12) ____”. He said: "I found out what building he was at and went there." Put the correct words from the table below in the above article. 1. _____________________________________________________________________________ HOMEWORK 1. VOCABULARY EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or Google’s search field (or another search engine) to build up more associations / collocations of each word. 2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find out more about John Lennon’s murder. Share what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson. 3. JOHN LENNON: Make a poster about John Lennon. Show your work to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all have similar things? 4. GIVE PEACE A CHANCE: Write a magazine article about peace. Include imaginary interviews with people who think peace will come to all the world.

Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Write down any new words and expressions you hear from your partner(s). 5. LETTER: Write a letter to John Lennon’s best friend. Ask him/her three questions about John Lennon. Give him/her your opinion of the three best things John Lennon did for the world. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions. ANSWERS GAP FILL: John Lennon’s killer says why he did it The man who killed former Beatle John Lennon has told prison authorities why he did it. Mark David Chapman, 55, explained his reasons to his parole board on September 7th. It is the first time he has given any explanation for murdering Lennon on the steps of the rock legend’s apartment in New York on December 8th, 1980.

He said: "I felt that by killing John Lennon I would become somebody, and instead of that I became a murderer and murderers are not somebodies.” He added: "I made a horrible decision to end another human being's life for reasons of selfishness, and that was my decision at that time.” Chapman thought that by killing someone famous he would achieve "instant notoriety and fame." Chapman is serving a sentence of 20 years to life for shooting Lennon. He was first eligible for parole in 2000 but prison officials decided not to release him. His next parole hearing will be in August 2012. He hopes that talking about his crime will help him get released. He revealed that his deepening belief in God while in prison has made him a better person. He admitted that he understands why members of the public want to keep him locked up forever. Another new revelation is that Chapman had other famous people on his hit list, including actress Elizabeth Taylor and former U.S. president Ronald Reagan. He chose John Lennon because he was “more accessible”.

He said: "I found out what building he was at and went there." LANGUAGE WORK John Lennon signs an autograph for Mark Chapman - his murderer, 1980 John Lennon signs an autograph for Mark Chapman - his murderer, 1980 Lennon (left) signing a copy of Double Fantasy for Chapman several hours before the murder. According to Chapman he actually had the gun in his pocket when this photo was taken, but he chickened out. He hung around in front of the Dakota getting his nerves up until John and Yoko came home later that night. Chapman waited outside Lennon’s apartment beginning in the afternoon. Lennon and Yoko walked outside to go somewhere and Chapman asked him to sign his record (it was a special edition record, somewhat rare for one reason or another). After Lennon signed the record he asked Chapman “Is that all?”. Basically asking if Chapman wanted anything else signed to which Chapman replied “No”. Chapman then waited outside of Lennon’s apartment for Lennon to return. He waited several hours and spent some of the time waiting reading The Catcher in The Rye (a book he was infatuated with). Lennon was returning from the recording studio that night.

He was carrying tapes from the studio under his arm when he was shot. Chapman then read more of his book while waiting for the police to come. The first to respond after the shooting was a security guard from The Dakotas (the apartments John and Yoko lived in) who approached Chapman as he sat reading. Apparently the all the security guard could do was sob and kept asking Chapman “Do you know what you did?”. Mark Chapman was an individual who had experienced many problems, that were left unchecked and allowed to escalate. He heard voices and had obsessive thoughts about things, including Catcher of the Rye by J. D Salinger. He had grown up idolizing Lennon, but after becoming a born-again Christian he was angered at the singer’s claim that the Beatles were “more popular than Jesus”. He had intended to kill John Lennon in October 1980, after he had made the trip to New York with the intention of carrying out his plan, but he was delayed and instead went to Atlanta to purchase ammunition from a friend. He returned to New York again in the November, again fully intending to kill Lennon, however changed his mind after seeing the film Ordinary People.

After he returned home to his wife in Hawaii, and he told her that he had been obsessed with killing Lennon, and the matter again went unchecked by psychiatrists and other such professionals. Mark Chapman’s mugshot. Chapman would return to New York one last time on December 6, with his plan to kill John Lennon firmly back on schedule. He checked into the Sheraton Hotel, staging his hotel room with several personal items for the police to find after he killed Lennon. He purchased a copy of The Catcher in the Rye, and wrote inside the cover: “This is my statement” and signed it Holden Caulfield. He had come to the conclusion that John Lennon was a hypocrite and a phony: A rich man singing about peace and love, however unwilling to actually make changes in the world. Chapman said that he chose Lennon after seeing him on the cover of The Beatles’ album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. He recalled having listened to Lennon’s John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band album in the weeks before the murder: “I would listen to this music and I would get angry at him, for saying that he didn’t believe in God… and that he didn’t believe in the Beatles.

This was another thing that angered me, even though this record had been done at least 10 years previously. I just wanted to scream out loud, ‘Who does he think he is, saying these things about God and heaven and the Beatles?’. Saying that he doesn’t believe in Jesus and things like that. At that point, my mind was going through a total blackness of anger and rage. So I brought the Lennon book home, into this The Catcher in the Rye milieu where my mindset is Holden Caulfield and anti-phoniness”. Chapman had decided that taking the life of someone so famous would, finally, make his life meaningful. He would later go on to say: “I felt that by killing John Lennon I would become somebody and instead of that I became a murderer, and murderers are not somebodies”. How the incident happened? Around 5:00 p.m., Lennon and Ono left The Dakota for a recording session at Record Plant Studios. As they walked toward their limousine, Chapman shook hands with Lennon and asked for him to sign a copy of his album, Double Fantasy.[ Photographer Paul Goresh took a photo of Lennon signing Chapman’s album.

Chapman reported that, “At that point my big part won and I wanted to go back to my hotel, but I couldn’t. I waited until he came back. He knew where the ducks went in winter, and I needed to know this” (a reference to The Catcher in the Rye). Around 10:49 p.m., the Lennons’ limousine returned to the Dakota. Lennon and Ono got out, passed Chapman and walked toward the archway entrance of the building. From the street behind them, Chapman fired five shots from a .38 special revolver, four of which hit Lennon in the back and left shoulder. The death certificate gives the following description: “Multiple gunshot wounds of left shoulder and chest; Left lung and left subclavian artery; External and internal hemorrhage. Shock”. Published on: January 5, 2014 John Lennnon Shot on Dec. 8, 1980 Dead - YouTube John Lennnon Shot on Dec. 8, 1980 Dead Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content.

The interactive transcript could not be loaded. Loading... Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Uploaded on Apr 22, 2008 By 1980, former Beatle John Lennon had become an icon for the anti-war movements of the 1970s. His music embodied the struggle for peace and love amidst the horrors of war and destruction. On December 8, 1980, Lennon emerged from his Manhattan apartment after five years of living in seclusion with his family. A fanatical fan, Mark David Chapman, obtained Lennon's autograph outside his apartment and then shot him dead. Then this morning I went to the bookstore and bought The Catcher in the Rye. I'm sure the large part of me is Holden Caulfield, who is the main person in the book. The small part of me must be the Devil. I went to the building. It's called the Dakota. I stayed there until he came out and asked him to sign my album. At that point my big part won and I wanted to go back to my hotel, but I couldn't. I waited until he came back. He came in a car.

Yoko walked past first and I said hello, I didn't want to hurt her. Then John came and looked at me and printed me. I took the gun from my coat pocket and fired at him. I can't believe I could do that. I just stood there clutching the book. I didn't want to run away. I don't know what happened to the gun. I remember Jose kicking it away. Jose was crying and telling me to please leave. I felt so sorry for Jose. Then the police came and told me to put my hands on the wall and cuffed me. -Mark David Chapman (guy who killed John Lennon) Category John Lennon shot dead by Mark David Chapman in 1980 - NY Daily News Legendary Beatles singer shot dead by Mark David Chapman John Lennon shot dead by Mark David Chapman in 1980 NEW YORK DAILY NEWS email John Lennon of the Beatles is shown in this Dec. 1980 photo taken days before his death. He was scheduled to finish his next album, a follow up to “Double Fantasy," that was released a month earlier and marked his comback after five years in retirement.

(AP) NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Sunday, December 7, 2014, 5:37 PM (Originally published by the Daily News on Dec. 9, 1980. This story was written by Patrick Doyle, Robert Lane and Hugh Bracken.) Former Beatle John Lennon, the 40-year-old lead singer of the most popular rock group in history, was shot to death last night as he stepped from a limousine outside his home in the Dakota, an exclusive apartment building on Central Park West and 72d St. Police arrested a suspect, “described as a local screwball,” minutes after the shooting and charged him with Lennon’s murder. The “smirking” suspect, identified as Mark David Chapman, 25, of Hawaii, was seen in the vicinity of the Dakota for several hours before the shooting and reportedly had hounded Lennon for an autograph several times in the last three or four days. Lennon and his Japanese-born wife, Yoko Ono, were returning to their apartment from a recording session when the shots rang out. Lennon was taken to Roosevelt Hospital in a police radio car and was pronounced dead on arrival in the emergency room.

“We tried to save him,” said Dr. Stephen Lynn, director of emergency services. “We opened his chest and massaged his heart, but he was virtually dead when they brought him in.” Lennon’s body was then taken to the Bellevue Hospital morgue for an autopsy. The life and death of John Lennon Police said Lennon was shot several times at close range inside the large iron gate on the W. 72d St. side of the building and was bleeding profusely when he was placed in the radio car. Lynn said Lennon was brought into the emergency room a few minutes before 11 p.m. and was pronounced dead at 11:07 p.m. “Extensive resuscitation efforts were made, and despite transfusion and other methods, he could not be revived,” Lynn said. The doctor added that “significant damage had been done to a major vessel in the chest. There was a massive blood loss.” Police Officer James Moran, who drove the car that took Lennon to the hospital, said the singer “had no last words.” A witness to the shooting, Sean Strub, said he saw Chapman walk back and forth at the scene of the shooting and then drop a gun.

Police said they later recovered a .38-caliber revolver near the courtyard. Front page of Tuesday, December 9, 1980, edition of the Daily News, with headline reading "John Lennon Slain Here - Ex-Beatle Shot; Nab Suspect." Shows Yoko Ono being helped from Roosevelt Hospital by David Geffen. (Kappock, Gene) John Lennon shot story (New York Daily News) Strub said Chapman, whom he described as pudgy and dressed in a brown jacket, scuffled with the police immediately after they arrived on the scene. “Chapman almost had a smirk on his face,” Strub said. A woman who identified herself as Nina McFadden of W. 94th St. said she heard the shots and then watched as Chapman paced back and forth and threw his jacket to the ground. “I saw John and Yoko step out of the limousine,” she said. “They walked inside the gate. Then I heard four or five shots. They were loud, ear-shattering. “I heard Yoko scream, ‘Help, help. Help him’,” McFadden said.

“It was then that I saw the man with the gun and watched him drop it from his side to the ground,” McFadden said. John Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, arrive at The Hit Factory, a recording studio in New York City, the summer before Lennon was murdered outside the Dakota on Dec. 8th. (STEVE SANDS/AP) She said she then saw a man walk over to the building security guard and heard him say, “I would leave here if I were you.” Six policemen put Lennon into the car for the mile ride to the hospital. The sobbing Yoko, who has told interviewers she is 47, was “very distraught” and “couldn’t believe” Lennon was dead, according to police and a large crowd of fans who gathered silently outside the hospital emergency room as word of Lennon’s death spread. Several hundred persons maintained a vigil outside the Dakota. Most carried radios and listened to news accounts of the singer’s death. Barbara Tyree, a maid who was taking care of two children on the ground floor of the apartment building, said she was shocked by the shots and terrified when she looked out the window into the courtyard. “The courtyard was suddenly filled with people,” she said.

“It’s terrible, terrible.” Yoko Ono, center, and John Lennon, right, are shown with Allen Klein, president of ABKCO Industries Inc., and former Beatles manager. (AP) Ruth Ford, who lives in the fifth floor of the Dakota, said she was writing Christmas cards when she heard the shots. “I looked down into the yard from my kitchen,” she said. “I immediately called the police and Roosevelt Hospital.” She said she knew Lennon and Yoko but did not know Lennon was the shooting victim until the elevator man told her. Lennon’s producer, Jack Douglas, who arrived at the hospital shortly after Lennon was pronounced dead, said the singer was scheduled soon to put the finishing touches on his next album. Lennon’s latest album “Double Fantasy,” cut with his wife, was released about a month ago and signaled his comeback after five years in retirement. It received generally good reviews, and the album’s hit single, “Starting Over,” soared to the top of the pop charts. The Beatles, disbanded in 1970 after seven phenomenal years together. The last time Lennon met with any of his fellow Beatles was Thanksgiving Day, when he and Ringo Starr dined at the Dakota.

Tags: Mark David Chapman: John Lennon's killer wrote chilling letters to arresting NYPD officer | Daily Mail Online comments Correspondence: Convicted killer Mark David Chapman wrote several chilling letters to his arresting officer The chilling contents of letters written by John Lennon’s killer have been revealed, showing his deep obsession with ‘Catcher on the Rye’ and his desire to be friends with his arresting officer. In a series of never-before-seen letters obtained by Page Six, Mark David Chapman details to NYPD officer Steve Spiro his deranged mind. He first wrote in 1983 that he ‘wanted to be friends’ with Officer Spiro, and asked if the cop would locate Chapman’s copy of ‘The Catcher in the Rye,’ which he had on him during the murder and was lost during Chapman’s arrest. The letters, which are being sold by Gary Zimet’s Moments in Time, which sells rare or historic documents, are valued at around $75,000. According to Page Six , Chapman sent three typed letters to the NYPD officer.

At the end of one, he mused that Mr Spiro was ‘still the best d*** cop in New York City.’ Chapman also eerily said: ‘We were all part of something big, Steve,’ adding that something ‘phenomenal’ was all going to ‘come out.’ In one of his letters, Chapman compared a self-immolating woman in Saigon to his belief in J.D. Salinger’s influential novel, saying that the poems found on her body were her legacy. ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ is my statement,’ Chapman wrote. Scroll down for video New York's finest: Police direct traffic outside the Dakota the morning after Lennon was shot to death in front of the building; the arresting officer, Steve Spiro, received letters from Chapman Moment in time: The 'Double Fantasy' album that John Lennon autographed for Mark David Chapman hours before the former postal delivery man shot the singer The convicted murderer also chillingly told Officer Spiro: ‘Lennon was a phony of the highest degree, but there were others who could – and would- have served the same purpose.’ Mr Spiro, who was the first officer on the scene of the shooting, said that he first thought the shots were fireworks over Central Park.

‘I grabbed the guy, Mark David Chapman,’ Mr Spiro said at the time. ‘I wheeled him around. I’m cuffing him…I turn to my right, and see John Lennon being carried out of the building.’ The two had no more interaction than that. RELATED ARTICLES Share this article Share According to a hearing transcript released last August, Chapman, 57, a former security guard from Hawaii, said during an August 22 parole hearing that he's been offered lodging and a farm job by Stanley Thurber in Medina, a village between Rochester and Buffalo. He also said that if he was granted parole, he would ‘probably stay right where I’m at’ – in prison. The convicted killer added: ‘I’m so bonded that I could probably assure you that, if released, I’d probably stay right where I’m at. ‘You know, once you stand on a rock for 20 years and feel the waves on you and you don’t go anywhere because you’re on a rock, you don’t want to move.’ Chapman, who was again denied parole last August, shot Lennon in December 1980 outside the Manhattan apartment building where the former Beatle lived.

He was sentenced in 1981 to 20 years to life in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder. Speaking about Mr Thuber in the hearing, Chapman told the parole board: 'He's a minister and he's an older fellow and he has a lot of contacts in the area and he has agreed to refurbish his upstairs apartment for me and offered me two jobs.’ Fated meeting: John Lennon signs Mark Chapman's copy of Double Fantasy outside the Dakota Building in 1980, hours before Chapman opened fire on the former Beatle and killed him Scene of the crime: Lennon lived at the Dakota Apartments on Manhattan's Upper West Side; there is now a plaque commemorating where the musician was shot He said his wife, Gloria Hiroko Chapman, met Thurber at a church function and was 'impressed by his deep commitment to Christ.' After corresponding with Mr Thurber, Chapman said, they met for the first time on August 20.

Young: Chapman was 25 when he murdered Lennon, and is seen in a December 9, 1980 booking photo During his latest hearing, Chapman remembered Lennon as a 'very cordial and very decent man' who stopped to sign an autograph hours before the murder. 'He was very kind to me,' Chapman said. 'Ironically, very kind and was very patient with me. The limousine was waiting, his wife was waiting in the limousine, and he took his time with me and he got the pen going and he signed my album. He asked me if I needed anything else. I said, no. No, sir and he walked way.' Chapman, who said his motivation for killing Lennon was instant notoriety, also told the parole board he was surprised more celebrities haven't been the targets of violence and said he has thought about someone trying to kill him as a way to gain fame as the person who avenged Lennon. 'To do something like that against another person, it's something that would keep me alive and boost me,' he said. 'That's ludicrous and I'm actually glad that that's not done more.

I thought maybe more people would do that and I'm glad that they have not. 'I'm surprised that they have not because this society is just geared toward celebrity like crazy.' Concealed: A day after the 1980 murder, Mark David Chapman, centre, is escorted out of police station with a jacket covering his face and head Weapon of choice: The .38 calibre handgun used by Mark David Chapman to kill John Lennon, seen on the 25th anniversary of Lennon's death, and stored by the NYPD Chapman, who has said he considered killing several other celebrities, told the parole board he wanted Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, to know that he felt no anger toward Lennon. 'It wasn't anything against her husband as a person, only as a famous person,' he said. 'If he was less famous than three or four other people on the list, he would not have been shot. And that's the truth.' At his previous hearing, he recalled that he had considered shooting Johnny Carson or Elizabeth Taylor instead, and said again that he chose Lennon because the ex-Beatle was more accessible.

He said that his century-old Upper West Side apartment building by Central Park 'wasn't quite as cloistered.' Reaction: Lennon's distraught fans gathered outside his apartment building on December 8, after he was gunned down Scottish holiday: John Lennon and Yoko Ono, with their children Julian Lennon and Kyoko Cox, on holiday at Durness, in Sutherland, Scotland Widow's grief: Yoko Ono, centre, pictured in 2005 visiting Strawberry Fields, has requested that Chapman not be granted parole in an email to the New York Department of Corrections Chapman fired five shots outside the Dakota apartment house on December 8, 1980, hitting Lennon four times in front of his wife, Yoko Ono, and others. The former security guard from Hawaii said that his motivation was instant notoriety but that he later realized he made a horrible decision for selfish reasons. 'I felt that by killing John Lennon I would become somebody and instead of that I became a murderer and murderers are not somebodies.' -Mark David Chapman 'I felt that by killing John Lennon I would become somebody and instead of that I became a murderer and murderers are not somebodies,' Chapman told the board two years ago.

Ono, 79, had said two years ago that she was trying to be 'practical' in asking that her husband's killer remain behind bars. She said Chapman might be a danger to her, other family members and perhaps even himself. In a 1992 interview at Attica, Chapman told Barbara Walters that it was dark when he shot Lennon in the back with a .38-caliber revolver after he exited a limousine, headed up the walkway to his apartment building and looked at Chapman. 'I heard this voice - not an audible voice, an inaudible voice - saying over and over, `Do it, do it, do it,'' Chapman said. He explained, 'I thought that by killing him I would acquire his fame.' He has been in protective custody with a good disciplinary record, according to corrections officials. Chapman was denied parole in 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, and 2012.

Fab four: The Beatles, from left to right, included George Harrison, John Lennon, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney, pictured in 1964 Let me take you down: Strawberry Fields, located in Central Park near the Dakota Apartments, serves as a gathering point for fans and those wishing to pay their respects Video: Chapman talks about voices in his head after being convicted Mark Chapman: The Assassination of John | Crime and Investigation Mark Chapman: The Assassination of John Timeline The bizarre obsession that led to the murder of the Beatles singer/songwriter. Mark David Chapman was born in Fort Worth, Texas on 10th May 1955, the first child of David and Diane Chapman. His father David was a staff sergeant in the Air Force, who left the armed services shortly after his birth to pursue an engineering degree, which took the family to Atlanta, Georgia. A sister, Susan, was born in 1962, when Chapman was seven years old. He was not a popular child growing up and poor at sports. As a result, he developed a rich imagination, to insulate himself against the jibes of his classmates. Chapman claimed that his father was emotionally distant and abused his mother.

Consequently he and his sister were terrified of their father. Outwardly, the family were viewed as a happy one, and Chapman appeared a normal, well-adjusted boy, with a passion for The Beatles, and John Lennon in particular. Until his early teens, that is, when Chapman discovered marijuana, graduating to heroin and LSD, and gravitating towards a drug-dominated social set, which fit well with his counter-culture taste in music. Then, just as suddenly, his rebellious phase ended. At 16 he became an evangelical Christian, and his temperament changed just as abruptly. He acquired a born-again Christian girlfriend, Jessica Blankenship, and a job as a counsellor at a YMCA summer camp, where he was very popular with his young charges. Chapman’s hero-worship of Lennon persisted, until Lennon was quoted in the press as saying “We're more popular than Jesus Christ now,” at which point he renounced his one-time hero. At around the same time, he claims that the reading of Salinger’s novel ‘The Catcher in the Rye’, about a confused teenager, also influenced him deeply.

Chapman continued working within the YMCA, serving on its international programme, briefly in Lebanon and then with Vietnamese refugees back in the United States, at Fort Chaffee, where his popularity with the children he supervised continued unabated. By early 1976, after the refugee resettlement programme had run its course, Chapman joined girlfriend, Jessica Blankenship, at college in Tennessee. His studies suffered, however, when he became obsessed with a single infidelity he had committed with another camp worker, and he grew increasingly paranoid and depressed, and considered suicide. He returned to his home town, and found work as a security guard, but the depression continued. Chapman resolved to buy himself a trip of a lifetime, to Hawaii, spend his life savings, and then kill himself. He flew to Honolulu, and spent his savings, but failed to carry through the suicide plan, flew home again, fought with his parents, and then flew back to Hawaii again in May 1977. This time he went as far as trying to gas himself in his car but the plastic hose he attached to the exhaust melted and he survived.

Chapman checked himself into a mental facility and continued to volunteer at the hospital after his discharge, which resulted in a full-time maintenance position there, where he remained until April 1978. Having again successfully combated his depression for a time, Chapman planned a six-week trip around the world, which he booked through a Japanese American travel agent named Gloria Abe. The relationship between them developed into a romance and they were eventually married on 2nd June 1979. This happiness was short-lived as Chapman began drinking heavily again, lost his job at the hospital and developed a new obsession with expensive contemporary art. He purchased paintings by Salvador Dali and Norman Rockwell, and amassed debt that his new job, as a security guard, could not hope to support. One obsession led to another and, by March 1980, Chapman became determined to get out of debt, enforcing strict spending limits on himself and Gloria, which resulted in a paying off of the debt by mid-August that year. By this time Chapman was cycling through new obsessions at an increasing rate, alternately ridding himself of possessions and then replacing them, which placed a severe strain on the marriage.

He started to read voraciously, returning again to his favourite fictional character, Holden Caulfield, the protagonist in ‘The Catcher in the Rye’, even considering changing his name to that of his fictional hero. Chapman seemed to alternate between recognising, and rejecting, that he had a mental illness, retreating more fully into the fantasy world that he had conjured up in his youth. According to Chapman, the book ‘John Lennon: One Day at a Time’, by Anthony Fawcett, proved a conclusive catalyst for the events which transpired before the year’s end. He was incensed by what he saw as the hypocrisy of his former idol, who preached simplicity, peace and love and yet lived a life of unparalleled luxury in New York. His obsession grew and he decided to go to New York and kill John Lennon. On 23rd October 1980 he resigned from his security guard post, bought a gun (but no bullets) four days later, and flew to New York on 30th October 1980, all financed via a $5000 loan from his father-in-law.

He decided to live it up, as he had when he flew to Hawaii on his first suicide mission, and checked in to the exclusive Waldorf Hotel. He spent some time reconnoitring the Dakota Apartments building, the New York home of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, but encountered a major flaw in his assassination plan; the law in New York forbade the purchase of bullets by civilians. He was forced to travel to Atlanta to see a friend, who had become a deputy sheriff, who provided him with the ammunition he required. By 10th November he was back in New York, when Chapman claims that the chance viewing of the film ‘Ordinary People’, in which Timothy Hutton plays a suicidal teenager caught up in the midst of a dysfunctional family, provided a reality check to his obsession. He called his wife, told her that he loved her, that he had defeated his demons, and that he was coming home. This defeat was short-lived however and, after a fortnight of erratic behaviour back in Hawaii, he again left his extremely concerned wife.

Chapman returned to New York on 6th December, where he checked into a local YMCA, and began staking out Lennon’s apartment building, also buying a copy of Lennon’s new album, ‘Double Fantasy’. The next day, he moved from the YMCA to the Sheraton Centre Hotel but was again unsuccessful in his quest to spot Lennon. The following day, Monday, however, his luck had improved. Not only did Chapman get to shake hands with Lennon’s five-year-old son, Sean, but in the early afternoon, whilst talking to the Dakota’s doorman, John Lennon and Yoko Ono appeared from inside, en route to a studio appointment, and Lennon graciously autographed the dumb-struck Chapman’s copy of ‘Double Fantasy’. Chapman was so overcome by Lennon’s presence, and evident sincerity, that all thoughts of shooting him were temporarily forgotten. Chapman claims that he spent the rest of that day fighting his demons, praying for help from God to overcome his desire to kill Lennon.

The demons won out and, when Ono and Lennon returned to the Dakota at 10.50 pm, on Monday 8th December 1980, Chapman shot Lennon four times in the back, in front of his wife, on the steps to the building’s main entrance. By 11.15 pm Lennon had died of exsanguination, en route to the Roosevelt Hospital. Chapman made no effort to flee and was overpowered by the doorman, with whom he had been chatting earlier in the day. He was apologetic when the police arrived, claiming to be sorry for putting them to so much trouble. When he had been handcuffed and placed in the police car, Yoko Ono came over to look at him, without saying a word. Within minutes of the news announcements of John Lennon’s death, crowds began to assemble at both the Dakota and Roosevelt Hospital. Fearing reprisals from enraged fans, police kept Chapman under close guard during psychiatric evaluations and court appearances, and otherwise kept him at the high security jail on Riker’s Island.

The Assassination of John Lennon The Assassination of John Lennon The Assassination of John Lennon Founding Member of the Beatles Shot by Mark David Chapman Portrait of Japanese-born artist and musician Yoko Ono and British musician and artist John Lennon. (December 1968). (Photo by Susan Wood/Getty Images) By Tarkan Rosenberg, Contributing Writer Updated July 29, 2016. John Lennon — founding member of the Beatles , and one of the most beloved and famous music legends of all time — died on December 8, 1980, after being shot four times by a crazed fan in the carriageway of his New York City apartment building. Many of the events that led to his tragic and untimely death remain unclear and decades after his murder, people still struggle to understand what motivated his killer, 25-year-old Mark David Chapman, to pull the trigger on that fateful night. Lennon in the 1970s The Beatles were arguably the most successful and influential group of the 1960s , perhaps of all time.

Nevertheless, after spending a decade at the top of the charts, producing hit after hit, the band called it quits in 1970, and all four of its members – John Lennon, Paul McCartney , George Harrison , and Ringo Starr -- moved on to launch solo careers. Throughout the early ‘70s, Lennon recorded several albums and produced hits like the instant classic Imagine . continue reading below our video Test Your General Science Knowledge He had moved permanently to New York City with his wife Yoko Ono and taken up residence at the Dakota, a fancy, old apartment building located at the northwest corner of 72nd Street and Central Park West. The Dakota was known for housing many celebrities. By the mid-1970s, however, Lennon had given up music. And though he claimed he did so to become a stay-at-home dad to his newborn son, Sean, many of his fans, as well as the media, speculated the singer might have sunk into a creative slump. Several articles published during this period painted the former Beatle as a recluse and a has-been, who seemed more interested in managing his millions and holing up in his decadent New York apartment than in writing songs.

One of these articles, published in Esquire in 1980, would prompt a pudgy, disturbed young man from Hawaii, to travel to New York City and commit murder. Mark David Chapman: From Drugs to Jesus Mark David Chapman was born in Fort Worth, Texas on May 10, 1955, but lived in Decatur, Georgia from the age of seven. Mark’s dad, David Chapman, was in the Air Force, and his mom, Diane Chapman, was a nurse. A sister was born seven years after Mark. From the outside, the Chapmans looked like a typical American family; however, inside, there was trouble. Mark’s dad, David, was an emotionally distant man, not showing his emotions even to his son. Worse, David would often hit Diane. Mark could often hear his mom screaming, but was unable to stop his dad. In school, Mark, who was a bit pudgy and not good at sports, was picked on and called names. All these feelings of helplessness led to Mark having strange fantasies, starting very early on in his childhood. By the age of ten he was imagining and interacting with an entire civilization of tiny people he believed lived inside the walls of his bedroom.

He would have imaginary interactions with these little people, and later came to see them as his subjects and himself as their king. This fantasy continued until Chapman was 25, the same year he gunned down John Lennon. Chapman managed to keep such strange tendencies to himself, however, and seemed like a normal youngster to those who knew him. Like many who grew up in the 1960s, Chapman was swept up in the spirit of the times and by age 14, was even using heavy drugs like LSD on a regular basis. At age 17, however, Chapman suddenly proclaimed himself a born-again Christian. He renounced drugs and the hippie lifestyle and began attending prayer meetings and going to religious retreats. Many of his friends at the time claimed the change came so suddenly they saw it as a type of personality split. Soon after, Chapman became a counselor at the YMCA —a job he relished with fervent devotion—and would remain there into his twenties. He was highly popular with the kids in his care; he dreamed of becoming a YMCA director and working abroad as a Christian missionary. Problems Despite his successes, Chapman was undisciplined and lacking in ambition.

He briefly attended community college in Decatur, but soon dropped out due to the pressures of academic work. He subsequently traveled to Beirut, Lebanon as a YMCA counselor, only to be forced to leave when war broke out in that country. And after a brief stint at a camp for Vietnamese refugees in Arkansas, Chapman decided to give school another try. In 1976, Chapman enrolled at a religious college under the encouragement of his girlfriend, Jessica Blankenship, who was very devout and whom he had known since the second grade. However, he lasted only one semester before dropping out once more. Chapman’s failures at school caused his personality to undergo yet another drastic change. He began to question his purpose in life and his devotion to his faith. His changing moods also put a strain on his relationship with Jessica and they broke up soon after. Chapman became increasingly despondent about these events in his life. He saw himself as a failure at everything he tried and frequently spoke of suicide. His friends were concerned for him, but could never have anticipated what this shift in Chapman’s temperament portended.

Down a Dark Path Chapman was looking for a change and at the encouragement of his friend Dana Reeves—an aspiring policeman—decided to take shooting lessons and obtain a license to carry firearms. Soon after, Reeves managed to find Chapman a job as a security guard. But Chapman’s dark moods continued. He decided he needed to change his surroundings and moved to Hawaii in 1977, where he did attempt suicide but failed, ending up at a psychiatric facility. After two weeks as an outpatient there, he obtained a job in the hospital’s print shop and even volunteered on occasion in the psych ward. On a whim, Chapman decided to take a trip around the world. He fell in love with Gloria Abe, the travel agent who helped book his round-the-world trip. The two frequently corresponded through letters and upon returning to Hawaii, Chapman asked Abe to become his wife. The couple married in the summer of 1979. Although Chapman’s life seemed to be improving, his downward spiral continued and his increasingly erratic behavior concerned his new wife. Abe claimed Chapman began drinking heavily, was abusive towards her and would frequently make threatening phone calls to complete strangers.

His temper was short and he was prone to violent outbursts and would engage in screaming matches with his coworkers. Abe also noticed Chapman became increasingly obsessed with JD Salinger’s seminal 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye . The Catcher in the Rye It is unclear when exactly Chapman discovered Salinger’s novel, The Catcher in the Rye, but one thing is for certain, by the late ‘70s it was beginning to have a profound affect on him. He identified deeply with the book’s protagonist, Holden Caulfield, an adolescent who railed against the seeming phoniness of the adults around him. In the book, Caulfield identified with children and saw himself as their savior from adulthood. Chapman came to see himself as a real-life Holden Caulfield. He even told his wife he wanted to change his name to Holden Caulfield and would rage about the phoniness of people and of celebrities in particular. Hatred of John Lennon In October of 1980, Esquire magazine published a profile on John Lennon, which portrayed the former Beatle as a drug-addled millionaire recluse who had lost touch with his fans and his music.

Chapman read the article with increasing anger and came to see Lennon as the ultimate hypocrite and a “phony” of the very type described in Salinger’s novel. He began reading everything he could about John Lennon, even making tapes of Beatles’ songs, which he would play over and over for his wife, changing the tapes’ speed and direction. He would listen to them while sitting nude in the dark, chanting, “John Lennon, I’m going to kill you, you phony bastard!” When Chapman discovered Lennon was planning to release a new album—his first in five years—his mind was made up. He would fly to New York City and shoot the singer. Preparing for the Assassination Chapman quit his job and bought a .38-caliber revolver from a gun shop in Honolulu. He then bought a one-way ticket to New York, told his wife goodbye, and departed, arriving in New York City on October 30, 1980. Chapman checked into the Waldorf Astoria , the same hotel Holden Caulfield stayed at in The Catcher in the Rye, and set about seeing some sights. He frequently stopped at the Dakota to ask the doormen there about John Lennon’s whereabouts, without luck.

The employees at the Dakota were used to fans asking such questions and generally refused to divulge any information about the various celebrities who resided in the building. Chapman had brought his revolver to New York, but figured he would buy bullets once he arrived. He now learned only residents of the city could legally purchase bullets there. Chapman thus flew down to his former home in Georgia for the weekend, where his old buddy Dana Reeves—by now a sheriff’s deputy—could help him procure what he needed. Chapman told Reeves he had been staying in New York, was concerned for his safety, and needed five hollow-nosed bullets, known for causing immense damage to their target. Now armed with gun and bullets, Chapman returned to New York; however, after all this time, Chapman’s resolve had diminished. He later claimed that he had a type of religious experience that convinced him what he was planning was wrong. He called his wife and told her, for the first time, what he had planned to do. Gloria Abe was frightened by Chapman’s confession. However, she did not call the police but simply implored her husband to return home to Hawaii. He did so on November 12.

Chapman’s change of heart did not last long. His strange behavior continued and on December 5, 1980, he once again departed for New York. This time, he would not be back. Second Trip to New York Upon his second trip to New York, Chapman checked into a local YMCA, because it was cheaper than a regular hotel room. However, he was not comfortable there and checked into the Sheraton Hotel on December 7. He made daily trips to the Dakota building, where he befriended several other John Lennon fans, as well as the building’s doorman, Jose Perdomo, whom he would pepper with questions about Lennon’s whereabouts. At the Dakota, Chapman also befriended an amateur photographer from New Jersey named Paul Goresh, who was a regular at the building and well known to the Lennons. Goresh chatted with Chapman and would later comment how little Chapman seemed to know about John Lennon and the Beatles, considering he had claimed to be such an avid fan. Chapman would visit the Dakota regularly over the next two days, hoping each time to run into Lennon and commit his crime.

December 8, 1980 On the morning of December 8th, Chapman dressed warmly. Before leaving his room he carefully arranged some of his most treasured belongings on a table. Among these items was a copy of the New Testament in which he had written the name “Holden Caulfield” as well as the name “Lennon” after the words “Gospel According to John.” He arranged the items for maximum effect, expecting the police to come looking through his room after his arrest. After leaving the hotel, he bought a fresh copy of The Catcher in the Rye and wrote the words “This is my statement” on its title page. Chapman’s plan had been to say nothing to police after the shooting, but to simply hand them a copy of the book by way of explaining his act. Carrying the book and a copy of Lennon’s latest album Double Fantasy, Chapman then made his way to the Dakota where he stood chatting with Paul Goresh. At one point, a Lennon associate, Helen Seaman, arrived with Lennon’s five-year-old son Sean in tow. Goresh introduced Chapman to them as a fan who had come all the way from Hawaii.

Chapman seemed elated and gushed about how cute the boy was. John Lennon, meanwhile, was having a busy day inside the Dakota. After posing with Yoko Ono for famous photographer Annie Leibovitz , Lennon got a haircut and gave his last ever interview, which was to Dave Sholin, a DJ from San Francisco. By 5 p.m. Lennon realized he was running late and needed to get over to the recording studio. Sholin offered the Lennons a ride in his limo since their own car had not yet arrived. Upon exiting the Dakota, Lennon was met by Paul Goresh, who introduced him to Chapman. Chapman handed over his copy of Double Fantasy for Lennon to sign. The star took the album, scribbled his signature, and handed it back. The moment was captured by Paul Goresh and the resulting photograph —one of the last ever taken of John Lennon—shows a profile of the Beatle as he signs Chapman’s album, with the killer’s shadowy, deadpan face looming in the background. With that, Lennon entered the limo and headed for the studio. It is unclear why Chapman did not take that opportunity to kill John Lennon.

He later recalled he was waging an inner battle. However, his obsession with killing Lennon did not abate. Shooting John Lennon Despite Chapman’s inner misgivings, the urge to shoot the singer was too overwhelming. Chapman remained at the Dakota well after Lennon and most of the fans had left, waiting for the Beatle to return. The limo carrying Lennon and Yoko Ono arrived back at the Dakota around 10:50 p.m. Yoko exited the vehicle first, followed by John. Chapman greeted Ono with a simple “Hello” as she passed. As Lennon passed him, Chapman heard a voice inside his head urging him on: “Do it! Do it! Do it!” Chapman stepped into the carriageway of the Dakota, dropped to his knees, and fired two shots into John Lennon’s back. Lennon reeled. Chapman then pulled the trigger three more times. Two of those bullets landed in Lennon’s shoulder. The third went astray. Lennon managed to run into the Dakota’s lobby and clamber up the few steps leading to the building’s office, where he finally collapsed. Yoko Ono followed Lennon inside, screaming he’d been shot.

The Dakota’s night man thought it was all a joke until he saw the blood pouring from Lennon’s mouth and chest. The night man promptly called 911 and covered Lennon with his uniform jacket. John Lennon Dies When the police arrived, they found Chapman sitting beneath the gate’s lantern calmly reading Catcher in the Rye. The killer made no attempt to escape and repeatedly apologized to the officers for the trouble he had caused. They promptly handcuffed Chapman and placed him in a nearby patrol car. The officers did not know the victim was the famous John Lennon. They simply determined his wounds were too serious to wait for an ambulance. They placed Lennon in the backseat of one of their patrol cars and drove him to the emergency room at Roosevelt Hospital. Lennon was still alive but barely able to respond to the officers’ questions. The hospital was made aware of Lennon’s arrival and had a trauma team at the ready. They worked diligently to save Lennon’s life, but to no avail. Two of the bullets had pierced his lungs, while a third had hit his shoulder and then ricocheted inside his chest where it had damaged the aorta and cut his windpipe.

John Lennon died at 11:07 pm on the night of December 8, due to massive internal hemorrhaging. Aftermath The news of Lennon’s death broke during ABC’s televised Monday night football game when sportscaster Howard Cosell announced the tragedy in the middle of a play. Soon after, fans from all over the city arrived at the Dakota, where they held vigil for the slain singer. As the news spread around the world, the public was shocked. It seemed a brutal, bloody end to the ‘60s. Mark David Chapman’s trial was short, as he had pled guilty to second-degree murder, claiming God had told him to do so. When asked at his sentencing if he wanted to make a final statement, Chapman stood up and read a passage from Catcher in the Rye. The judge sentenced him to 20-years-to-life and Chapman remains imprisoned to this day, having lost several appeals for his parole.

Yoko Ono Uses John Lennon's Bloody Glasses To Condemn Gun Violence - CINEMABLEND Yoko Ono Uses John Lennon's Bloody Glasses To Condemn Gun Violence By jessica rawden 3 years ago Many of us have seen the photo of John Lennon’s bloody glasses, taken from his person after being shot four times by Mark David Chapman in 1980. However, on Thursday, Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, tweeted out the image as part of a personal crusade to combat gun violence in the United States. Ono did not tweet the image out once, but did so multiple times, accompany the visuals with emotional messages harkening back to Lennon’s shooting so long ago. You can check out one of the saddest tweets , below. “The death of a loved one is a hollowing experience. After 33 years our son Sean and I still miss him. Yoko Ono Lennon.” Lennon’s death was a mess.

The famous Beatles musician and political activist made no bones about fighting for peace in his life, and his senseless death at the hands of Chapman due to an obsession with Catcher in the Rye and a belief that Lennon was a phony was both shocking and appalling for fans and anyone whose life Lennon had touched. It’s no surprise that 33 years later, Ono is still mourning the death of her husband, but I do question splashing the man’s bloody glasses across Twitter in the attempt to turn a political message into an emotional one. In the years since Lennon’s death, Chapman has been denied parole a whopping number of times since he was first eligible in 2000 and it doesn’t seem like he'll be getting out anytime soon. While Ono is involved in a ton of other random projects , for her part, she’s always been against gun violence and for an understandable reason: "Over 1,057,000 people have been killed by guns in the U.S.A. since John Lennon was shot and killed on December 8, 1980." That’s a staggering number, one that was even retweeted by President Obama.

Subscribe To Topics You're Interested In close John Lennon shot - Dec 08, 1980 - HISTORY.com John Lennon shot Publisher A+E Networks John Lennon, a former member of the Beatles, the rock group that transformed popular music in the 1960s, is shot and killed by an obsessed fan in New York City. The 40-year-old artist was entering his luxury Manhattan apartment building when Mark David Chapman shot him four times at close range with a .38-caliber revolver. Lennon, bleeding profusely, was rushed to the hospital but died en route. Chapman had received an autograph from Lennon earlier in the day and voluntarily remained at the scene of the shooting until he was arrested by police. For a week, hundreds of bereaved fans kept a vigil outside the Dakota–Lennon’s apartment building–and demonstrations of mourning were held around the world. John Lennon was one half of the singing-songwriting team that made the Beatles the most popular musical group of the 20th century. The other band leader was Paul McCartney, but the rest of the quartet–George Harrison and Ringo Starr–sometimes penned and sang their own songs as well.

Hailing from Liverpool, England, and influenced by early American rock and roll, the Beatles took Britain by storm in 1963 with the single “Please Please Me.” “Beatlemania” spread to the United States in 1964 with the release of “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” followed by a sensational U.S. tour. With youth poised to break away from the culturally rigid landscape of the 1950s, the “Fab Four,” with their exuberant music and good-natured rebellion, were the perfect catalyst for the shift. The Beatles sold millions of records and starred in hit movies such as A Hard Day’s Night (1964). Their live performances were near riots, with teenage girls screaming and fainting as their boyfriends nodded along to the catchy pop songs. In 1966, the Beatles gave up touring to concentrate on their innovative studio recordings, such as 1967’s Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band, a psychedelic concept album that is regarded as a masterpiece of popular music.

The Beatles’ music remained relevant to youth throughout the great cultural shifts of the 1960s, and critics of all ages acknowledged the songwriting genius of the Lennon-McCartney team. Lennon was considered the intellectual Beatle and certainly was the most outspoken of the four. He caused a major controversy in 1966 when he declared that the Beatles were “more popular than Jesus,” prompting mass burnings of Beatles’ records in the American Bible Belt. He later became an anti-war activist and flirted with communism in the lyrics of solo hits like “Imagine,” recorded after the Beatles disbanded in 1970. In 1975, Lennon dropped out of the music business to spend more time with his Japanese-born wife, Yoko Ono, and their son, Sean. In 1980, he made a comeback with Double-Fantasy, a critically acclaimed album that celebrated his love for Yoko and featured songs written by her. On December 8, 1980, their peaceful domestic life on New York’s Upper West Side was shattered by 25-year-old Mark David Chapman. Psychiatrists deemed Chapman a borderline psychotic.

He was instructed to plead insanity, but instead he pleaded guilty to murder. He was sentenced to 20 years to life. In 2000, New York State prison officials denied Chapman a parole hearing, telling him that his “vicious and violent act was apparently fueled by your need to be acknowledged.” He remains behind bars at Attica Prison in New York State. John Lennon is memorialized in “Strawberry Fields,” a section of Central Park across the street from the Dakota that Yoko Ono landscaped in honor of her husband. Related Videos

Question: Which famous person did Mark Chapman kill in December 1980?
Answer: John Lennon